Over 20 years of writing about my club in Barnet matchday programmes, which sold to about 500 souls on a good day, now with this Blog Site everyone can read my ramblings, memories, interviews, experiences, features, guides to away grounds and pure love of everything Barnet Football Club. Enjoy and digest and tell your friends.
Reckless - Potters Bar March 2014.
Oh Yes, thank you to"Al" without whom.......that is all

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COLIN "PADDY" POWELL

Oh
yes, childhood memories - next is a player even now referred to as
simply “Paddy”. Colin Powell, simply a superb winger, the type of
player every team should have even now!

Les Eason, Lou Adams and Billy
Meadows, who were prolific goalscorers for the club during the late
1960’s and early 1970’s, will all state that their job was made
simple because of the midfield skills of Barry King and Gerry Ward,
but more importantly by the service and wing play of Colin Powell.
The press viewed Colin as the ‘George Best of non-league football’.
Powell is an all time favourite of many Bees fans, was without doubt
one of the most exciting players to play for our club, was voted by
the Barnet Football Club Supporters Association as 1970’s Player Of
The Decade.

Colin was born in July 1948 in
Hendon but soon moved to Stevenage with his parents. He began as a
midfielder in the Stevenage Youth team but ended up out on the right
wing and used his greatest asset which was pace. He soon progressed
into what was then the Stevenage Town first team at 17. The club
unfortunately went into liquidation and Paddy, cleaning windows by
day, joined Cambridge City.Paddy takes up the story “Dexter
Adams rang and said 'come and meet me for a chat'. I will always
remember it because I had no idea what Dexter looked like. I walked
out of Potters Bar station and glanced around the forecourt and the
only person I could see was a small man in glasses, wearing a cravat
and a trilby hat – that can’t be him surely? But it was! ‘Would
I sign for Barnet?’ I went home and spoke to my parents and they
all convinced me to join not only because it was a big big club in
the Southern League with some top players it was also close to home.
I was 19!Paddy freely reminisced about those
halcyon days; “There were some great players at Underhill when I
arrived in 1968 and a bonus was the pitch condition which was superb,
the best in the league”. Not only did Paddy terrorise full backs
with his pace and trickery he also scored more than his fair share of
goals. “We all wanted to score for that team and a player who was
superb in front of goal was Lou Adams and we became particularly
close friends. Gerry Ward was the truly class player in that team,
it was a real privilege to play with him.” Paddy’s record of
fitness was second to none. “I hardly missed a game in my whole
career and was lucky with injuries” he said proudly. To illustrate
this Paddy played in over 250 games for the Bees in just five seasons
scoring some 70 goals.He spoke of the FA trophy final
defeat in 1972 against Stafford Rangers. “We didn’t turn up on
the day as a team. The occasion was so special; the boys had visited
the week before to look around it was extraordinary. It was the only
time in my career that I played there too”

Wembley Woe

Paddy’s greatest hour in an amber
and black shirt was during January 1973 and the FA Cup ties against
QPR. Believe me that Phil Parkes’ crossbar was shaking for a week
courtesy of a Powell screamer in the last minutes which would have
won the day for the Bees. “I thought we completely outplayed them
in the replay until the last 20 minutes when the fitness told”. The
game at Underhill finished 0-3 in front of nearly 11,000 and the QPR
team included the likes of Stan Bowles, Gerry Francis and Don Givens,
it was a glorious night all the same. Old time supporters like me
also remember his hatrick in a 4-3 win at Bath City when 0-3 down at
half time. It still send s shivers down my spine when I recall that
day.

Paddy doing what he did best

Shortly after this Theo Foley and
Les Gore at Charlton Athletic approached Colin and offered him his
first full time contract and Barnet allegedly £10,000, Paddy was 24. “Eventually I gave in and chose
Charlton not only because the size and potential of the club (they
were in the old Division 3 in 1973) but also the close proximity. I
knew as did Barnet manager Tommy Coleman that the time was right to
move on”. Every Barnet follower was saddened to see Paddy leave
Underhill, with his mop of thick blond hair on the right wing leaving
full backs for dead time and time again, but we all knew he would
progress. He was an exceptional talent and we had been fortunate to
witness his maturity. He never let the side down and was one of those
players who would give the crowd an instant lift of expectancy when
he received the ball. I honestly believe only Andy Clarke and Dougie
Freedman have come close to Paddy’s ability to excite an Underhill
crowd in that way. “I spent five brilliant seasons
at Charlton, again hardly missing a game.” He continued “I was
approached by Derby County in 1977 about the same time that my mate
Derek Hales moved there, Colin Murphy put a bid in for me but
Charlton rejected it. I also spoke to Sheffield Utd too. I then
briefly moved to America, to Boston Massachusetts playing for the New
England Tea Men with my Charlton team mate Mike Flanagan. They forked
out £90,000 for me! After a season there I returned to the Valley
until 1981 partly because I was also offered one of the houses that
Charlton owned to live in, so that was a big bonus”. The rumour
around that time was that Barry Fry had tried to sign Paddy for
Barnet but Paddy denied this “No he didn’t although we did speak
a lot on the phone at the time”. I also challenged him that he
applied for the position of manager when Fry was sacked before moving
to Maidstone. “No to that again, but I did think about it for sure,
that is probably how the rumour started but no I didn’t actually
apply” he laughed.Colin appeared in over 320 games
for Charlton Athletic over an 8-year period. “Alan Mullery took
over and told me honestly ‘Look Paddy, I want to bring in my own
players and I am planing to sign a new winger called Carl Harris’.
So, as my long time friend Keith Peacock had just become manager at
Gillingham I joined them for a couple of seasons, even though I had 8
months left of my contract, and had a lovely time. It was a smashing
club to play for. I drifted into non-league with Dartford and then
Tooting & Mitcham and finally ended my playing career at Bromley.
I had a spell as an assistant manager there with Trevor Ford and then
as a manager in my own right at Margate for a while but managing
wasn’t for me.”“At 40 I was fortunate to get a
job at Westminster School in London coaching football and also
tending to the pitches. That was in my blood because as a nipper at
Stevenage I would lend a hand with the pitch maintenance and also
helped at my local cricket club too nursing the wickets. Roger Alwyn,
the Charlton Chairman found out what I was up too and offered me work
looking after their training pitches. Frankly the lure of the place
was impossible to turn down and of course the club ultimately
returned to the Valley after ground sharing at Selhurst Park and
Upton Park. I eventually became head groundsman at the new stadium,
it was perfect. I have been here ever since and part of Charlton for
40 years.”These days Paddy keeps fit by
playing Cricket every weekend in the summer although he doesn’t
pull on the football boots any more. “No more football for me, but
I do enjoy watching my son David play. He was at Welling and
Gravesend and actually played in a FA cup-tie at Villa Park, that was
a proud moment. I have two daughters, Lisa and Becky and I am a busy
Grandfather too.”Charlton presented Colin with a
testimonial in July 2013 in the form of a pre season friendly with
Inverness Caledonian Thistle. “I felt very proud walking out to a
guard of honour by the players” he said.

I asked him what is in the future.
“I desperately want Charlton to return to the top flight, because
when you have sampled Premiership football you really don’t want
anything else. However I will put today’s football into perspective
- when l left Barnet and joined Charlton in 1973 I was earning £40 a
week – I would have had to have played for 100 years to earn what
Rooney earns in a week!” Paddy Powell would certainly be a
millionaire if he played today, he is a Legend of Barnet FC and it
always a sheer pleasure to talk with him.